Lab News
Summer Research Completed
August 2026
Thank you to these students for joining us in the summer!
Summer students: Grace Jae Kim, Sho Takahashi, & Yuwei Ma
Columbia University Biotechnology Masters Program (theses completed): Hannah Liu & Kathleen Ngoc
High school student: Arjun Basu
NIH-Awarded Project for
Breast Cancer Research
August 2026
“A novel function of prolactin signaling in brain metastasis in HER2-positive breast cancer”
Prolactin signaling is a targetable vulnerability in HER2+ brain metastasis and introduces a new therapeutic approach to prevent or treat metastatic progression patients.
American Cancer Society
Scholar Award
August 26, 2026
“Identifying mediators of brain metastasis in EGFR-mutant lung cancer”
Awarded to our collaborator, Dr. Biswas
Building on his previous work, Dr. Biswas will study how IL-18 helps cancer cells survive in the brain and whether blocking it can reduce treatment-resistant tumors. This work could lead to new strategies for preventing and treating brain metastases in patients with EGFR-mutant lung cancer.
Pershing Square Foundation
Lotus Award
May 29, 2026
“A Tumor–Brain Endocrine Axis That Drives Ovarian Cancer Metastasis”
Dr. Acharyya's work will examine the role of corticotropin-releasing hormone, a key regulator of the body’s stress response, and test whether brain-penetrant drugs that block this pathway could be repurposed to prevent relapse in ovarian cancer.
“The problem so far has been that the response to PARP inhibitors is not durable... sometimes it lasts six months, sometimes a little longer. But oncologists tell me that almost all patients eventually relapse, so it’s important to find out why.”
-Swarnali Acharyya
Study Suggests Way to Improve Treatment of Hereditary Breast Cancer
August 14, 2024
By Robin Lally
“The combination of axitinib with PARP inhibitors could make resistant cancers more responsive to treatment and may even be effective for patients who don’t respond to PARP inhibitors from the beginning."
-Anup K. Biswas
June 26, 2023
"Developing the first targeted therapy against cancer cachexia"
The Irving Cancer Drug Discovery Program (ICDDP), which debuted in February 2023 as part of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC), was established to help faculty accelerate cancer research discoveries and advancements made in their labs to the clinic.
Lung Cancer Research Foundation announces 2022 Scientific Research Grant Awards
December 6, 2022
“I’m truly excited and honored to receive this James B. Dougherty, MD Award for Scientific Merit,” said Dr. Acharyya. “This award will enable us to focus on novel treatments for EGFR-therapy-resistant brain metastasis. I am grateful for the support of the LCRF that will help us take on this challenge.”
- Swarnali Acharyya, PhD
New Research Reveals Promising Drug
Target in Recurrent Lung Cancer
March 2, 2022
"If we unlock the underlying mechanism responsible for relapse in these patients, then we can potentially save a lot more lives suffering from this type of cancer."
- Anup Kumar Biswas, PhD
"We want therapeutic strategies to intervene early, not giving the cancer a chance to re-emerge."
- Swarnali Acharyya, PhD
New Therapeutic Strategies to Treat Metastatic Cancer
February 5, 2021
Presented By
The New York Academy of Sciences
"Cancer research experts shared their work leveraging cell biology, immunology, genomics, microbiology, and more to improve our understanding of metastatic cancer and develop novel treatment strategies."
Systemic Effects of Metastatic Cancer
October 21 - October 22, 2020
Webinar
Presented By
The New York Academy of Sciences
"This symposium aims to deepen our understanding of the complex results of systemic metastatic disease, and inspire the development of effective therapeutic strategies to prevent and treat the systemic outcomes of cancer metastasis."
2019 Schaefer Scholars Announced
May 2, 2019
"The Schaefer Research Scholars Program at VP&S supports research scientists who have distinguished themselves in the science of human physiology and whose proposed research should illuminate the field."
From rock ‘n’ roll to heavy metal
June 28, 2018
Written By
Ulrike Harjes from Nature Reviews Cancer
"Wang, G., Biswas, A. K., Ma, W. et al., who published their results in Nature Medicine, showed that metastatic disease in their models was accompanied by reduction in body weight and loss of muscle tissue."